Re-Reforged: Addressing Factions and Colors

[Dr Mile Risma]

So this is something which is perhaps rather trivial, but I genuinely care about the consistency, representation, and even presentation of faction colors.
The team color representing a specific faction in lore has been tradition since Warcraft II and the original Starcraft, but Warcraft III had a lot of inconsistencies when concerning vanilla faction colors. With the colors available doubling since before Reforged, I would love to see faction colors receive more exploration and discussion.

Another thing to consider is how it looks in game. For example, Warcraft III's yellow honestly looks kinda terrible on most units, so I would rarely consider it unless you wanted one model in particular to stand out from the crowd or want to make use of how something looks on the minimap. Another consideration is the faction models themselves. Night Elves, Undead, and Naga are generally darker, so brighter colors look rather good on them. Alternatively, human and orc models are very bright, and can usually pull off darker colors better.

I think most people can agree that the Warcraft II factions like Kul'Tiras and the Blackrock Clan are easy enough to work with, but what about elf factions? Naga? Undead? Night Elves? Each one of these factions tend to be rather open when it comes to what colors represent them.

So here is my current list of questionable faction colors and even recommended faction names for some unnamed groups, most of which are taken from WoW:

High Elves: Silvermoon - Turquoise; looks clean with the blue armor on the high elf models, so these guys would look like an official guard of Silvermoon City Farstriders - Emerald; much less obnoxious than Reforge's Mint and not as distractingly dark as the classic Blue on the Reforged models. Sunblades - Orange; renamed "Sunwell Guardians" based from the group in WoW Nightwatchers (custom) - Blue; this was a third faction I thought of including for variety in "Key of the Three Moons." They'd be the guardians of the key altars, although this faction is entirely made up. Realmguard (custom) - Teal; renamed "Elven Defenders". I figured it was a reasonable enough name. Blood Elves: I don't think you need more than one Blood Elf faction, which would just be Red, but in case a second one appears in any mission, here are a few suggestions taken from WoW. Sunfury - Red; Kael's main faction Dawnblades - Orange Shadowswords - Black Sunseekers - Purple

Night Elves: Starseekers - Blue Moonhunters - Light Blue Shadowleaves - Dark Green Nightblades - Black/Teal; I personally like black, but I can understand that many might find it looking dull. Teal is an alternative which I think a lot of people might like, but this is one I'd like to hear more thoughts on. I was considering black Nightblades might accompany Illidan in "A Destiny of Flame and Sorrow." They are a sentinel faction, but I think a Turquoise Illidan might look weird. Quite frankly a blue Illidan looks weird. His model doesn't look half bad in black though, and neither do the night elves in general. Sentinels - Turquoise; blue looks too dark, teal looks too green, and light blue looks too saturated. Turquoise I think fits most artwork of Tyrande and Malfurion the best and also is rather unique looking for a player faction. It looks solid on the models, is rarely used by anyone else (so you aren't competing for blue) and matches the art. Cenarius - Teal Watchers - Dark Green/Maroon; primarily they'd be dark green, but in cases where you have rescuables, or perhaps a second Watcher faction for any reason, Maroon I think would be a good reference to their vanilla color in "Brothers in Blood."

Naga: Naga look great in bright colors, and I think it gives them an advantage since they can capitalize on colors most other factions wouldn't usually use. Coilfangs - Pink; Lady Vashj's faction and the main Naga faction throughout the campaign based off of the generic "Illidan's Naga". Purple looks very flat on Naga, and even Violet isn't impressive, but Pink looks really good and not a single faction in game uses it. It also matches most depictions of Vashj and Naga in the art pretty well. Bloodscales - Red Wrathfins - Orange Darkcrests - Teal Coilskars - Mint Illidan (Corrupted) - Mint; Might as well include him here. Unless someone makes an Illidan model without the tatoos matching the faction color, mint is the best looking Illidan color. It is simple enough to have him be Mint no matter which faction he is leading. Spitescales - Lavender; the only Naga not part of Illidan's group and present in the prologue campaign. If going off of Zar'jira's art, I think Pink would be more appropriate, but Lavender distinguishes them from the Coilfangs and also looks pretty good on them.

Undead: So here is where I start coming up with faction names. Most undead factions are defined by their leaders, so "Varimathras'/Sylvanas'/Detheroc's/Balnazzar's Forces." I find these names very uninspired. I will probably post another thread about this when TFT gets closer, but these are my current ideas for proper faction names. Undead Scourge - Purple(/Green/Red/Orange) - in RoC it will have all of those extra colors since the Scourge is unified. By TFT these extra colors would become their own groups. The Purple faction is of course the main Arthas faction. Cult of the Damned - Green/Purple Frozen Dead - Teal; renamed from "Undead Pillagers" into something of its own. These would be Northrend undead, so Crypt Fiends, Crypt Lords, Gargoyles, etc. Would only really appear in the human campaign or as rescuables in TFT. Ghosts of Quel'Thalas - Dark Green; Blue is classic and doesn't look bad, but Dark Green matches the Sylvanas artwork much better (I'm looking at gemstones) and there's no hard evidence from WoW which suggests that Blue is the faction color of the Forsaken. Also since Emerald is the color I want for Sylvanas' Farstriders, Dark Green would be a nice nod to that in that she and her banshees still bear the Farstrider colors after death, even if it has faded. Cult of Blood - Red; Varimathras' forces Cult of Decay - Mint; Detheroc's forces, sets him apart from Kel'thuzad and Mal'ganis' Green factions. Cult of Shadows - Violet; Balnazzar's forces, sets him apart from Arthas' Purple undead. Also matches his artwork where he often has a bright purple/pinkish glow around him. Cult of Dark Flame - Orange; Dalvengr's forces, the dreadlord you kill in the second Blood Elf mission. Orange undead show up quite a few times in TFT, so I figured you could justify them being in line with the dreadlords since Kael killed their master in Dalaran. Thus these guys go on to represent the generic "Dreadlord Insurgents" faction.

Misc Factions Dalaran: Kirin Tor - Violet; separates them from Arthas' Purple faction Mage's Guild - Lavender; keeps the purple Dalaran theme and still looks solid on humans Sorcerer's League - Wheat; I chose this because it matches the gold trim on most human armor. I think it's a rather unique look for a human faction and sets them apart from anybody else. The Silver Hand: Silver Hand - Light Blue; Generic faction and Uther's color Champions of Peace - Blue; Gavinrad's faction. I chose blue since Gavinrad hails from Azeroth/Stormwind, so it's appropriate to see him in blue before you kill him. Champions of Light - Snow; the White of Lordaeron's regalia is meant to represent the Holy Light. As such, I think paladins who call themselves "Champions of Light" should be wearing a lot of white. Champions of Truth - Teal; shuffled around since blue and white was placed on the other two factions in this mission. Alliance Expedition: Light blue - Jaina's expedition forces switch between Blue and Light Blue all the time, I think it's perfectly fine to just settle with Light Blue and keep it consistent throughout the campaign.